Athletes who are most successful start to train with a dream in mind. They have a specific, long-term goal that is personally meaningful to them. They nurture their dream nightly by vividly imagining themselves living it, performing that way and reaching that goal. Their big why drives them to get up early, train hard and push through setbacks, obstacles and failure. Having a big why will give a direction to your training. It will keep you motivated and focused. Without an emotionally compelling goal to drive you, it's easy to get lost and lose interest. Your big why should belong to YOU and no one else! In other words you should go after that goal for you, not for your coach, parents or teammates. You should get in the habit of taking your big goal with you every day to practice. This will keep you focused, give you a purpose and help you get the most out of each training session. ! Before each practice you want to ask yourself, How is what I'm going to do today going to help me get closer to my big why? By doing this you won't get caught in the trap that most athletes fall into of complaining about practice. (I hate this drill Coach! Why do we have to do this?) If you have a big, personally meaningful goal, then you will take responsibility for making your practice a good one, regardless of the way the coaches run the training.